The town of Udupi was perhaps the first location that I had learnt about not from a Geography textbook, but thanks to a handful of restaurants that flourished in my resident suburb, Mulund. As a kid, I recall being 'treated' all the time at one of these eateries by visiting relatives, or the weekly ritual of heading there for a yummy breakfast after Sunday mass. The memories are pretty vivid: buzzing kitchens functioning on autopilot, waiters who moved like lightning [I was sure they wore invisible roller skates!], pillowy soft idlis, slightly sweetish sambar and the crispy medu wadas. It was also the only type of fare that got the nod of the mother, as she came to admit; after all, it was sans preservatives or any other unhealthy additive.